Figure 12.6: Evidence of heightened recklessness and aggress iveness in adolescence and youth The graph on the left is based on an analysis of traffic fatalities in the United States in 1970 by Wilson and Daly (1985, p. 69). The high rate of death for young drivers is probably due to inexperience as well as recklessness, but inexperience can’t explain why the rate is so much higher for young men than for young women. The graph on the right, from Campbell (1995, p. 100), shows the rate of arrests for assault in 1989 in the United States, as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice.

(Based on data from Wilson & Daly, 1985 [left]; and Campbell, 1995 [right].)